


Just a Fool

by Erandri



Series: Tumblr Fics [28]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: (or so Steve thinks), Ambiguous Relationships, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Mentions of Steve/Cath, Misunderstandings, New Relationship, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 03:45:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17593967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erandri/pseuds/Erandri
Summary: Steve kissed him first, without preamble or explanation, and Danny had kissed him back, thinking that Steve meant the same things with the kiss that he had.





	Just a Fool

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a Tumblr prompt by an anonymous asker. Based off of the song "Just a Fool" by Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton.

The bartender slides a beer to him across the polished bar and Danny catches it easily, taking a long drag and setting it next to his last empty bottle. He watches the TV in the corner absentmindedly, trying to distract himself from his thoughts with the 11 o’clock news.

He’s expecting the call but when his phone starts vibrating against the bar top it still startles him. He stares down at Steve’s smiling face, watching as his name lights up the screen. He had turned the ringtone off but the vibration buzzes against the polished wood angrily, rattling his bottles before it stops just as suddenly as it began. Danny watches as the ‘one missed call’ notification replaces Steve’s name. His phone doesn’t even have a chance to go back to sleep before it starts vibrating again, Steves name and face once again lighting up the display. Gently, Danny reaches out and flips the phone over.

“Well that can’t be good,” the bartender says.

Danny looks up at him and he pointedly looks at Danny’s phone which now pings, alerting him that there’s either a new voicemail or a text message.

“It’s complicated,” Danny says.

“Yeah, I know how that goes,” the bartender tells him in a tone that suggests maybe he does know exactly what Danny’s going through. Without another word, he reaches under the bar and grabs a shot glass, overflowing it with what Danny recognizes as a top-shelf whiskey. “On the house,” the guy says, handing the shot glass over with a wink.

Danny thanks him, surprised by the gesture and watches him leave, taking in the fitting blue jeans and t-shirt with the bar’s logo painted on the front. It’s at least a size too small for him but it just accentuates the guy’s muscles. Danny admires the movement of his shoulders as he reaches up to grab a bottle off the shelf, filling a glass with a flourish and presenting it to a smiling woman. Because he’s already watching Danny sees when the bartender turns back and smiles when he catches Danny’s eye. Danny looks away first and downs the shot, letting it burn it’s way down his throat before he stands up.

Danny sees that Steve had texted him when he flips his phone back over but he clears all the notifications without reading them. He shoves his phone in his pocket, putting a generous tip on the bar and walking out into the cool night air.

_Steve kissed him first, without preamble or explanation, and Danny had kissed him back, thinking that Steve meant the same things with the kiss that he had. They hadn’t talked about it, he just let Steve lead him down the hallway until they stumbled onto his bed. Then, there was no room for words aside from_ yes _and_ please _and_ more _. It had happened so naturally that Danny had just assumed they had both been on the same page._

_In the morning he watched sleepily as Steve silently collected his clothes and left with one final kiss. There was no mention of the previous nights’ activities at work. Everything was the same as always, except when Steve tapped his side with the back of his hand it brought back memories of Steves hands wrapped around his hips, holding on so tight that Danny had the faintest of bruises. And when he said_ Babe _it reminded him of whispering it into Steves’ ear, of running a hand down Steve’s back while he came down, Steve’s ragged breath warming his shoulder with each labored exhale._

_It went on for weeks, someone would call the other and they would fall into bed. Sometimes Danny would initiate it, mostly Steve did. He never thought about why they never did anything more. Why they never went on a date, or why they never said anything to the team. It all felt so right that he hadn’t thought there was a need._

_Then Catherine had come back._

Steve doesn’t say anything about the phone calls on Monday but Danny wasn’t expecting him to. They never said anything before, why should that change now? It doesn’t stop him wanting Steve to bring it up, to say  _anything_  to prove what they had meant something to him. He feels the words rushing through him, every argument and harsh word he has thrumming under his skin and threatening to burst out of him but he shoves it all down.

_Danny had been nursing his arousal for the better part of the afternoon. They had been chasing a perp down the pier and Steve had tackled him right off the end and into the marina. The guy had struggled but there’s no question who had the advantage in the water and after helping the guy back onto the dock so Danny could cuff him, Steve had pulled himself out of the water. Standing there with the water pouring off of him and his soaked clothes clinging to his body well, Danny’s only human._

_So he had held onto that image of Steve running a hand through his hair to work the water out, his shirt molded to his abs and the sun lighting up the water droplets. He held onto it through the booking process, and through the resulting paperwork. He held onto it until he got home, made himself dinner, and then remembered that he didn’t have to just keep his thoughts to himself anymore. That he could act on them now with Steve’s eager participation._

_So he had called Steve’s cell but instead of the masculine voice he was expecting, a very feminine “_ Hey Danny! _” answered his call. It took him a second to place it, but recognizing Catherine’s out of breath voice worked better than a cold shower._

_“Is that Danny?” and equally out of breath Steve asked in the background. There were the quick muffled sounds of the phone being passed over before Steve said “Hey buddy, what’s up?”  
_

_“Uh, nothing,” Danny had said, scrambling to find an excuse for his calling, “Just wanted to see if you wanted to get dinner, but you have Cath over. I’ll see you later,” He had rushed, hanging up before Steve could say anything and throwing his phone onto the bed, feeling like an idiot._

“So are we ever going to talk about it?” It’s Steve who finally cracks, which surprises Danny, he had figured with all the interrogation training that Steve would long outlast him.

“Talk about what?” Danny asks, being obtuse just because he knows it’ll piss Steve off and he kinda wants him to suffer a little bit.

“Dammit Danny, you know what,” Steve says angrily, his hands flexing on the steering wheel.

“ _What?_  What? What do you want to talk about Steve? The fact that you kissed me out of nowhere? That we fucked and it was pretty damn spectacular? How about the fact that after months of that- of me thinking that we had something- that your ex comes into town and you brush me off to the side so you can take her to bed instead? Is that what you want to talk about?”

“Cath and I aren’t back together,” Steve says, but he doesn’t dispute what Danny want’s him to dispute.  _Needs_  him to dispute.

“Are you denying that you slept with her?” he accuses and the car falls into silence, “That’s what I thought,” Danny says, turning to look out the window so that Steve can’t see just how much that had hurt him.

After a couple of minutes, he hears Steve turn the blinker on before he pulls off the road and parks in a convenience store parking lot. “I didn’t think it meant anything to you,” Steve says finally, his voice low.

Danny looks over at him but Steve’s staring down at the gear shift, looking as uncertain as Danny’s ever seen him, “How could it  _not_ mean something to me? Did you think I was just sleeping with you for the fun of it?”

“It happens. Sometimes,” Steve says and suddenly Danny has a perfect picture of what Steve’s life must have been like before DADT was repealed. How awful it must have been for him to have to hide every romance with a man, to pretend that part of him didn’t exist. To only be able to show it behind closed doors.

Just like that his anger fades away, replaced with understanding. The pain is still there, but it’s less now that he knows what Steve must have been thinking. “Look at me,” Danny says quietly and it breaks his heart when he sees Steve visibly prepare himself for what Danny’s about to say next before he finally looks up. Danny takes a deep breath to prepare himself and, making sure his voice is as steady and convincing as he can make it, says, “I love you.”

Steve’s expression goes from chastened to shocked when Danny says those words and Danny has to wonder how he never knew it before. “You do?”

“With every molecule of my being. I love you,” slowly he reaches out and runs a hand over Steve’s hair, letting it come to rest on his cheek, rubbing a thumb across the shell of his ear. “There was never any other option,” Danny admits and Steve closes his eyes and leans into the touch, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I’m sorry,” Steve says into the palm of Danny’s hand, pressing a kiss there.

“I forgive you.” Danny wipes away a tear when he sees it making its way down Steve’s cheek.

“I love you too. So much so I don’t know how to put it into words,” Steve tells him, his eyes still closed like maybe if he opens them it’ll all have been a joke.

Instead of answering, Danny leans across the console, using his grip on Steve to pull him forward just enough to press a tender kiss against his lips. Steve lets out a stuttering breath when he pulls away and finally opens his eyes. “Why don’t you show me instead?” Danny says and Steve nods, kissing him one more time before starting the car again and heading towards home.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [Erandri](http://erandri.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr!


End file.
